Trudeau, Canada's Liberal Party end Harper's nearly 10-year rule

Liberal Party Leader Justin Trudeau has been elected Canada's new Prime Minister. His Liberal Party won in a landslide, claiming more than half of the seats in parliament and ending Conservative Stephen Harper's time as Prime Minister. (Oct. 20)
AP

Canadians voted for a sweeping change in government Monday, giving Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau a majority to end the nearly 10-year rule of Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Trudeau, 43, the oldest son of the late prime minister Pierre, who led Canada for more than a decade, will become the second-youngest prime minister in Canadian history.

"This is what positive politics can do," Trudeau told a room full of supporters during his victory speech in Montreal. "We beat cynicism with hard work. We beat negative, divisive politics with a positive vision that brings Canadians together. Most of all we defeated the idea that Canadians should be satisfied with less."

Harper conceded defeat and called Trudeau to offer his congratulations. His Conservative Party issued a statement saying Harper is stepping down as its leader.

"The people are never wrong," Harper said. "The disappointment is my responsibility and mine alone."

Election returns showed Trudeau's Liberals winning a majority of the 338 seats in Parliament. With 97% of polls reporting, the Liberals either won or were leading in 186 seats. The party needed to win 170 seats for a majority government.

"There's no question that people in this country ... wanted real change," said Newfoundland Liberal candidate Seamus O'Regan, who ousted the incumbent in his district by a wide margin. The Liberals' success in Atlantic Canada, he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (CBC), was a result of running "a campaign of optimism."

Tom Mulcair, leader of the New Democratic Party, which placed third, said: "Canadians rejected the politics of fear and division" of the Harper Conservatives. "I congratulated Mr. Trudeau on his exceptional achievement."

Voters in Canada had a choice to hand Harper, 56, and his Conservative Party a rare fourth term, or turn left under Trudeau. Pre-election polls gave an edge to Trudeau.

The campaign lasted 11 weeks and was the country's longest and most expensive in more than 140 years.

Trudeau had promised to cut taxes for the middle class, raise taxes on the wealthiest 1% and boost government deficits to stimulate Canada's sluggish economy.

Liberal leader Justin Trudeau plays with son Hadrien as he watches the election results with his wife Sophie Gregoire, son Xavier and daughter Ella-Grace at a hotel in downtown Montreal on Oct. 19, 2015.(Photo: Paul Chiasson, The Canadian Press via AP)

Trudeau is a former schoolteacher and member of Parliament since 2008. He and his wife, former model and television host Sophie Gregoire, have three young children.

Trudeau has proposed improving relations between Canada and the United States. Harper's strong stance in favor of the Keystone XL pipeline that would carry crude from Alberta to Texas has clashed with President Obama's reluctance about the project.

Trudeau supports the pipeline but says relations between the two major trading partners should not hinge on one project.

Harper also clashed with Obama on other issues, including the historic nuclear agreement that the United States and other world powers recently reached with Iran. He has been hawkish on defense, and was hurt politically by a weak economy this year.

Harper had nudged the traditionally center-left country to the right, lowering sales and corporate taxes, avoiding climate change legislation and supporting the oil industry against environmentalists. He campaigned on a promise of ensuring "stability, not risk" and cast Trudeau as "just not ready" for higher office. But Trudeau's performances in five debates received strong reviews.

Trudeau's father was elected prime minister in 1968 and held the office almost continuously until 1984. The charismatic politician, who was a bachelor when he became prime minister, often drew comparisons to John F. Kennedy. At age 51, he married 22-year-old Margaret Sinclair, who earned notoriety as first lady for partying with the Rolling Stones and at New York's Studio 54, the Associated Press reported. The couple had three sons but divorced when Justin was 6. The boys were raised by their father, who died in 2000.

Canadian election rules allow candidates to win parliamentary districts with a plurality of the vote rather than an outright majority. That makes it possible for a party to win a majority of seats with less than a majority of the national vote.